Tropical Atlantic becoming more active

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - As temperatures are forecast to heat up here in the Quad Cities area this weekend, the tropics are heating up as well.

The National Hurricane Center is highlighting three areas in the Atlantic Basin for tropical cyclone development over the next week, including two areas in the central and eastern Atlantic, and an area in the Gulf of Mexico.

One ingredient for tropical development is warm waters. Sea surface temperatures, or temperatures of the water in the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, are extremely warm, sitting in the 80s and even lower 90s in some parts of the Gulf.

So far this season there have been four named tropical systems, with one unnamed storm that formed in January.

We are approaching the climatological peak of the Atlantic hurricane season is September 10th.

The latest outlook from the NOAA calls for 14-21 named storms, with 6-11 of them becoming hurricanes.

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